PARTURIENT PARESIS 87 



given up as long as the cow shows signs of life. In 

 this disease the old saying ''as long as there is life 

 there is hope" is most fitting. 



We urge haste in beginning the treatment of any 

 attack of parturient paresis; all cases should be 

 treated at once, because of the rapidity with which 

 death approaches at times. But at the same time we 

 desire to caution against a grave or unfavorable prog- 

 nosis in cases in which treatment has not been given 

 promptly. 



We wish to emphasize this point because we have 

 known veterinarians to refuse to treat cases of this 

 disease when treatment had been delayed and the 

 animal appeared to be in a dying condition. 



The treatment of parturient paresis has been a suc- 

 cess since the introduction, by Schmidt, of the potas- 

 sium iodid treatment. Schmidt's treatment has grad- 

 ually been converted into the present day air treat- 

 ment, having taken various steps, from iodid of potash 

 solution to saline solution, to sterile water, to oxygen, 

 and lastly to atmospheric air pressure. As far as it has 

 been possible to ascertain, the effects which are ob- 

 tained are due to pressure exerted on the parts within 

 the udder with which the various agents come in con- 

 tact. But even this is not fully understood ; as we said 

 in beginning the discussion of this disease, the treat- 

 ment is empirical. It has been held that the effect of 

 the treatment was due to the oxygen content of the 

 various agents. This is not in accord with practical 

 evidence, because not much difference is seen in the 

 result whether atmospheric air or pure oxygen gas is 

 injected. 



Today, in this country at least, the treatment of 

 parturient paresis is commonly called the ''air treat- 

 ment," and consists in the main of tensely inflating the 



